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BBC trials brainwave headset for iPlayer

BBC iPlayer users could soon be using an innovative piece of brainwave technology to navigate the app. In partnership with tech firm This Place, the corporation has been developing a headset that will allow you to browse and select shows with just the power of your mind.

Not only could it create a faster and more convenient user
interface, one very practical advantage of the technology would be
to make it much easier for people with disabilities to use the
app.

Trials of an early prototype called Mind Control TV, which
measures brain activity and sends signals to an experimental
version of iPlayer, have so far been successful. Despite its
infancy, all ten BBC staff members who tested the device were able
to launch the app and view programmes.

However, the BBC has stressed that the cutting-edge prototype is
currently in the very early stages of experimentation and that a
fully-featured final product is still some way off.

BBC Digital head of business development, Cyrus Saihan, said:
"You can imagine a world where instead of having to get up from
your sofa or reach for your remote, you just think 'put BBC One on'
when you want to watch TV."

"Imagine sitting in your car and thinking 'I want to listen to
Radio 4' and hearing the radio station come on during your commute
to work. Perhaps you might be able to just think 'give me the
latest news' and in response get served up a personalised set of
news headlines."

While we can't expect to see the tech hit stores any time soon,
the BBC will be documenting its progress on the project on its
Internet Blog.

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Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.